Politics interfering with U.S.-Mexico relationship

Both nations need to keep eye on the prize in drug war.

Published 12:02 am, Thursday, March 17, 2011

You might not have been able to tell from Mexican President Felipé Calderón's recent one-day trip to Washington, but the relationship between Mexico and the United States has gone from friendly to farcical.

Neither country takes the relationship seriously, and neither seems to be able to break the old habit of blaming the other for its problems. Moreover, for all the photo-ops assuring us that the two countries are partners in the drug war both tend to let politics interfere.

Politics drove what happened last year when, according to The Washington Post, White House officials scuttled a proposal to require gun-shop owners along the border to report bulk sales of the semiautomatic rifles favored by drug dealers. Senior law enforcement sources told the Post that it was White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who squelched the idea because he didn't want to provoke the National Rifle Association. A spokesman for Emanuel denied the charge.

And politics is behind a lot of what is happening now in Mexico, where lawmakers in the Mexican Congress have declared U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual persona non grata after the release, by WikiLeaks, of unflattering State Department cables. The dispatches — which Calderón claims have caused so much “severe damage” to U.S.-Mexico relations that Pascual may need to be removed — include one that seems to question the resolve of the Mexican government in fighting the drug war and challenge the courage of the Mexican military.

That cable, signed by Pascual, described how the Mexican army failed to act on information from U.S. officials about the whereabouts of a major drug trafficker. So U.S. officials gave the tip to the Mexican navy, which captured the individual. From this, Pascual deduced that the army was “risk-averse,” say the officials.

Calderón was outraged, as he made clear in a meeting with reporters and editors at The Washington Post.

“It's difficult if suddenly you are seeing the courage of the army (questioned),” Calderón told the journalists. “They have lost probably 300 soldiers ... and suddenly somebody in the American embassy, they (say) the Mexican soldiers aren't brave enough.”

Calderón makes a fair point. Even in a cable that was never supposed to be public, Pascual was out of line. If the Cuban-born diplomat had a deeper understanding of Mexico, he would know that there are certain things that are not done and questioning Mexicans' courage is at the top of the list.

Pascual should be removed not because of what he wrote but because of the extent of what he doesn't know.

But that is a personnel matter, and it won't be enough to cure what ails the U.S.-Mexico relationship. And that's because some of what has gone wrong can be traced to the Mexican side of the border.

Here's what Calderón didn't tell The Washington Post: Mexico is still haunted by a sense of inferiority to the United States, and many Mexicans are still bothered by the fact that — more than a century and a half ago — their country was invaded by its northern neighbor and lost more than half of its territory. Add to that the current immigration debate, where Mexicans have to stand idly by and watch their countrymen maligned and mistreated in the United States — an insult compounded by the undeniable fact that, were it not for Mexico's failure to produce jobs, those expatriates might never have left home. For these reasons, and a dozen others, when Mexicans hear any criticism from the United States, it has an extra bite.

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Get over it, amigos. The United States isn't perfect, but it is still your best friend in the world. You're locked in a valiant and high-stakes battle against drug traffickers who are more like domestic terrorists — the most important conflict your country has faced since the Mexican Revolution. And while anti-U.S. nationalism might feel comfortable, it will not help you win. In fact, if the relationship goes south, it could ensure you lose.